The lenses of the eyes in a healthy human being project slightly different pictures onto the retinas, which are then transformed, by the brain, into a spatial representation. The actual stereoscopic spatial observation is a result of this perception through both eyes. A stereoscopic display creates a 3D illusion with a pair of 2D images, one for the left eye and the other for the right eye, representing two perspectives of the same object, with a minor deviation similar to the perspectives that both eyes naturally receive in binocular vision. The viewer's brain merges the pair of images and extracts depth information from the slightly different images.
Stereoscopic, or 3D, pictures are produced in pairs, the members of a pair showing the same scene or object from slightly different angles that correspond to the angles of vision of the two eyes of a person looking at the object. Thus, it is necessary to take two photographs for a 3D image. This can be done with two cameras, with one camera moved quickly to two positions, or with a stereo camera configured to obtain two images.
A stereo camera is a type of camera with two or more lenses. The distance between the lenses in a typical stereo camera roughly corresponds to the distance between human eyes. In the 1950s a number of manufacturers introduced stereo cameras that were developed to use 135 film with separate film frame for each lens. Recently, digital stereo cameras (digital 3D compact cameras) have come on the market. In digital 3D cameras there are usually two camera modules, each of them having one lens unit and one image sensor. Lens unit consists of one or more lenses. It is also possible to have 3D camera where single camera module is used with specific 3D lens unit for capturing 3D images. However in those devices the lens unit has typically large physical size.